Stents made from stainless steel or Nitinol are very difficult to visualize under fluoroscopy. Stents made from tantalum are typically so radiopaque that they obscure some of the lumen within an implanted stent. Some stents are made with a radiopaque coating (viz., gold) on only their most proximal and most distal portions thus providing knowledge of the stents position in a vessel without obscuring most of the volume within the stent. However, such stents do not provide any knowledge as to whether the stent is fully deployed throughout its entire length so as to make contact against the inner surface of the vessel wall. Furthermore, a stent that is gold plated only on its end portions is not as attractive in appearance as a stent that is uniformly gold plated. Furthermore, a stent that is gold plated on one (or more) section(s) and not gold plated on another section can cause an electrolytic corrosion that can compromise the structural integrity of the stent.